The donors: Barb Wiseberg, Darrel Hotz and Joey Hotz
The gift: Creating the Krinkle Project
The cause: To provide loot bags for children in women’s shelters
When Barb Wiseberg’s husband, Darrel Hotz, opened a law office in Oshawa, Ont., the couple wanted to start a community project.
They came up with the idea of providing loot bags full of books, craft supplies and games for children living in women’s shelters. Their teenaged son, Joey Hotz, also got involved, and three years ago they launched the Krinkle Project, taking the name from the sound a cellophane bag makes.
The program provides 25 bags four times a year to eight shelters, five in Durham region and three in the Toronto area. The bags coincide with the school year; starting in August with back-to-school backpacks followed by bags for the Christmas holidays, March break and summer recess. Depending on the time of year, the bags are filled with items such as binders, notebooks, pencil cases, crayons, markers, paint, puzzles, yarn, socks and toothbrushes. So far, the group has handed out 3,000 bags in total and everything is co-ordinated by Ms. Wiseberg, her son and a group of friends. They also raise around $10,000 annually from sponsors and donors to keep the project going.
“We understand that this doesn’t solve their situation and doesn’t help the mother’s situation,” Ms. Wiseberg, 53, said from the family’s home in Toronto. “But it’s just very much a small act of kindness. Just to know that what we’re doing is very much a targeted act of kindness, it feels so right. It feels so good to do that.”
Paul Waldie